Dear College Community,
For those of you who weren’t able to join me last week, I am hosting another Chancellor’s Community Listening Tour this coming Thursday, October 1, and I hope you will join me. I’d like to start again by highlighting new sources of funding made available thanks to one of our many existing partnerships. Genentech has just awarded the College with a $75,000 grant to support undocumented and noncredit students through cash awards and food cards. In combination with a recent $15,000 grant from Wells Fargo and $25,000 in donations from private donors, we have a total of $115,000 available to serve some of our most vulnerable students. We are working as quickly as possible to establish an application process for these funds, and are grateful to the 91·çÔÂÂ¥ Foundation for their role helping make this support possible.
We also want to remind everyone that even though our libraries remain closed for the moment, students can continue to access library reference and chat services 24/7 through the library website. This function also includes a new Zoom component so that librarians can more effectively walk students through more complex research questions. Our librarians also continue to offer our students instruction on research skills and information competency through tools like online workshops, research guides, slide presentations, exercises to find and evaluate information, and recorded videos and demonstrations. Thank you to everyone who has made it possible for these services to continue – and expand – during the pandemic.
During a time when the need for firefighters is even more important than ever, I’m happy to report that our Fire Science program has just been re-accredited for a new five-year period. Many of our graduates go on to serve in the San Francisco Fire Department, as well as other departments around the Bay Area. And we are grateful for their continued service fighting the fires that continue to devastate our region. And finally, we have just received approval from the San Francisco Department of Public Health to begin offering select in-person classes, primarily in the fields of Allied Health. We look forward to sharing more details about this development over the next few weeks, as it is critical to get these programs back up and running so that we can fill the vital need for healthcare workers throughout the Bay Area.
Thank you for all that you do in service to our students, and our community.
Yours sincerely,
Rajen Vurdien, Ph.D
Interim Chancellor
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